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Lead Stories: Friday, August 29, 2008

USATF Comments on the Retirement of Maurice Greene

Posted February 5th, 2008 at 10:30 AM by Jeremy Sussman

Section: News & Results, Track & Field, Olympics

Three-time World Outdoor 100m champion and 2000 Olympic 100m and 4×100m gold medalist Maurice Greene announced his retirement from track and field Monday in Beijing, China.

Recognized as one of the greatest sprinters of all time, Greene won the 100m, 200m and 4×100m relay gold medals at the 1999 World Outdoor Championships in Seville, Spain. In so doing he became the second sprinter ever to defend the 100m world title and the first to ever to accomplish the 100m/200m sprint double at a World Championships. The 1999 World Indoor champion at 60 meters, Greene owns the world record in that event, and his former world 100m record of 9.79 seconds set June 16, 1999 in Athens, Greece, remains the American record.

The 2000 Olympic Trials 100m winner and Olympic gold medalist, Greene also won the 100m at the 2004 Olympic Trials, and later won the 100m bronze medal at the Games in Athens, where he also won a silver medal in the 4×100m relay.
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Dathan Ritzenhein Named
Visa Humanitarian Athlete
of the Year

Posted November 27th, 2007 at 7:45 AM by Martin Kennedy

Section: News & Results, Track & Field

Two-time Olympian Dathan Ritzenhein has been named Visa Humanitarian Athlete of the Year by USA Track & Field. Ritzenhein will be honored December 1 at the 2007 Jesse Owens Awards and Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony held in conjunction with USA Track & Field’s 2007 Annual Meeting, November 28-December 2, in Honolulu, Hawaii.

Ritzenhein, 24, of Eugene, Oregon, earlier this year won the Healthy Kidney 10K in New York on May 19 in 20 minutes 8 seconds, breaking the Central Park course record of 28:10 set by Kenyan Paul Koech in 1997. Following the race Ritzenhein donated his winner’s earnings of $7,500 to the race beneficiary, the National Kidney Foundation. “I made a pact with myself before the race that if I’m fortunate enough to pick up this course record the least I can do is give back the first place prize money seeing as how this is professional athletics, but it’s a race for charity,” said Ritzenhein.
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Running Brave: Classic running movie about Billy Mills & the heart of a warrior

Posted December 28th, 2006 at 11:27 AM by Kathryn Magro

Section: Motivation, Movies, Columns, SPOTLIGHT

This is part four of the 5-part series: “BILLY MILLS: Overlooked Hero of Running” (Links to the other installments in this series are located at the conclusion of this article).

Running serves a different purpose for everyone. For some, it is solely a method of exercise; others find it to be a means of escape. In Running Brave, a 1983 film showcasing the life and career of Billy Mills, we find that running can also be a way of life. it certainly is for Mills, who states: “Running has been my freedom; my happiness.”

The struggles that Mills (played by Robby Benson) endures throughout the film revolve around his life as an American Sioux-Indian and his use of running to both fit in and remain sane in a seemingly uncontrollable world.
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BILLY MILLS
Compassionate Warrior

Posted December 15th, 2006 at 7:00 AM by Jennifer Lipman

Section: News & Results, Motivation, Columns, Olympics, SPOTLIGHT

This is part three of the 5-part series: “BILLY MILLS: Overlooked Hero of Running” (Links to the other installments in this series are located at the conclusion of this article).

For nearly 50 years Billy Mills has channeled his love for running into a passion for fighting against poverty and for encouraging Native American youth to believe in the power of their dreams.

As we mentioned in Part 2 of this series, Mills is a descendant of the Oglala Lakota (Sioux) tribe and grew up on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation. After losing his parents at the young age of 12, he brought athletics into is life.

Since his historic 10,000m gold medal victory at the 1964 Olympics, Billy Mills has used his fame to help children that face the same poverty and rejection that he battled throughout his own life.
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BILLY MILLS
The Olympic Legend

Posted December 14th, 2006 at 9:19 AM by Jenna Sumara

Section: News & Results, Motivation, Columns, Olympics, SPOTLIGHT

This is part two of the 5-part series: “BILLY MILLS: Overlooked Hero of Running” (Links to the other installments in this series are located at the conclusion of this article).

Billy Mills was born in Pine Ridge, South Dakota on June 30, 1938 in the Oglala Sioux Indian reservation. Billy’s Lakota name is Makata Taka Hela meaning “love your country” or more traditionally translated, “respects the earth”.

After losing his parents when he was only 12-yrs old, Mills became involved with running at the Haskell Institute; an Indian school located in Lawrence, Kansas. In the late 1950’s, Mills attended the University of Kansas on an athletic scholarship.

At Kansas his hard work and natural abilities on the track continued to flourish. In 1958 and 1959 he was All-American in cross country. In the 1960 Big Eight Conference, Mills won an individual title in cross country. The following year, Mills again became the conference champion in the two mile race; coming in with a time of a little over nine minutes.
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